Who Is Jimmy Kimmel’s Wife? Meet Molly McNearney

Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been on the air since 2003, and Molly McNearney has been by host Jimmy Kimmel’s side for almost the entire way.

She joined the crew as a writer’s assistant in 2004, but their relationship was slow to develop. Eventually, the coworkers became friends, then the friends became a couple. Today, their marriage is holding strong after over a decade, as Kimmel and McNearney share two kids and a life built around late night TV.

“I will sometimes dream a joke or think of something in the middle of the night, and then what I do is, because I cannot hold it in, I will wait until she’s stirring and then I’ll tell her what I thought [up],” Kimmel said in a 2020 appearance on the “SmartLess” podcast. “Deep in my skull, I think to myself, ‘This is her job, so it’s OK for me to do this.’ That’s how I rationalize it.”

While most of McNearney’s work happens behind the scenes, she has also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! numerous times, often in the recurring “Win Jimmy’s Crap” skit. (She has openly called her husband a hoarder in the past.)

But there’s much more to McNearney than what fans see on TV or the red carpet, where she frequently joins Kimmel at awards shows. Keep scrolling for everything to know about Molly McNearney.

Molly McNearney Is an Executive Producer on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

McNearney has risen in the ranks on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and is now executive producer and co-head writer on the show. With almost 500 episodes under her belt as of September 2025, she “absolutely” loves her job.

“I love late night television. I think there’s such a magic to waking up as a writer with a blank page – I will say magical and daunting – to wake up with an empty page and write some thoughts down,” she told Script Mag in a 2024 interview. “Things that I would genuinely say and joke about to my friends, and I get paid to do it to write them for television.”

She Has Also Written for Numerous Awards Shows

If you’re a fan of awards shows, there’s a good chance you’ve seen some of McNearney’s work and might not even know it. She has writer credits on multiple Oscars and Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which Kimmel hosted.

She explained that writing has given her an outlet to share her feelings on current events and politics.
“I get to put it somewhere and hopefully make a dent in or influence or make someone laugh in some dark times, or maybe even change someone’s opinion politically, which I know is impossible,” she told Script Mag.

She Says Kimmel Insulted Her the First Time They Met

Though Kimmel and McNearney are happily married today, the two didn’t get off to the best start. As McNearney tells it, the first thing Kimmel ever said to her was an insult.

“The executive producer brought me into his office and said, ‘This is Molly; she’s my new assistant,’” she recalled to Glamour in 2014. “Jimmy barely looked up from his desk until my EP said, ‘She competes in triathlons,’ and then Jimmy looked up at me and said, ‘That is really stupid! What a waste of time.’”

“That was the first and only thing he probably said to me the entire first year of working there,” she added.

The Couple Got Engaged in South Africa and Married in 2013

The two eventually grew close while working together and socializing after shows. When Kimmel split with Sarah Silverman in 2009, things soon turned romantic with McNearney. They got engaged while on a safari in South Africa in 2012, then married in California in 2013 in a ceremony attended by Ben Affleck, Howard Stern, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski and more celebrities.

She Has Been Open About Son Billy’s Health Problems

Kimmel and McNearney welcomed daughter Jane in July 2014 and son Billy in April 2017. Billy was born with a congenital heart defect that required open-heart surgery at just three days old.

“Kids are so resilient — he had open-heart surgery on a Monday and we were home on Friday,” she said in a 2018 appearance on Anna Farris’ “Unqualified” podcast.

When Kimmel returned to work following Billy’s surgery, he gave an emotional monologue about healthcare in the United States — something McNearney admitted she was unprepared for.

“So, there I am, in my living room breast-feeding Billy with my mom beside me, and we’re watching,” she said in a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I sobbed through the entire thing. I couldn’t believe the strength that it took to tell that story a week after it happened. He didn’t have to do that.”

“Our family has excellent health care; he had nothing to gain from that. He did it for the other people whom we met in that hospital,” she continued. “He came home that night, and I just hugged him and I wouldn’t let go.”